Butter container and cutter



T. KASKOURAS. BUTTER CONTAINER AND CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28. 1919. 1 ,348,805, Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

FIG. 2.

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T. KASKOURAS.

BUTTER CONTAINER AND CUTTER.

APPLICATiOH FILED NOV; 28.1919." I 1,348,805, Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET ,2.

' Fixed concentrically upon the PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS KASKOURAS, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

BUTTER CONTAINER AND CUTTER;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

Application filed November 28, 1919. SerialNo. 341,287.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs KAsKoUnAs, a subject of the King of Greece, who have declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and Stateof Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Butter Container and Cutter, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to devices for containing and cutting butter into little cakes or pieces such as are placed on separate small dishes one for each guest at restaurants. The object of the invention is to provide an efiicient device of said kind, especially tor cutting one single piece of butter at a time and placing it on a dish and automatically removing the filled dish and replacing it by an empty one.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a top view ofmy improved device. Fig. 2 is a bottom view ofthe rotary body or chamber holding the butter to be cut. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2 withthe parts in normal position the same as in Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 in'Fig. 1 with some of the interior parts intact. Fig. 5 is a section or View on the line 55 in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail top view of one of the wires cutting the butter. Fig. 7 is a right hand elevation of the lower corner 01: Fig. 4 on a reduced scale. Fig. 8 is a cross section on the line 8-8 in Fig. 4 on a reduced scale. Fig; 9 is an end view of the screw 17 in Fig. 1 With adjacent portions of the tub and its cover. Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9 but showing a stud instead of a screw.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, -11 designates a base upon which the legs 12 of a tub 13 stand, and may be secured thereto. The tub is provided with a cover 14 which is readily detachable as it issimply held'in place by having L shaped notches 15 (seeFigs. 9 and 10) engaging a stud 16 and a thumb-screw 17, on the tub; said thumb-screw when tightenedprevents accidental rotation of the cover.

of the tub is a cylindrical-chamber 19, inside of which is mounted to rotate loosely a rectangular pocket 20, said pocket has its open bottom end traversed by two crossing wires 21, 22 (see Fig. 2), upon which a bottom 18 A square lump of butter, 23, rests and will be cut by the said wires whenever pressed downward by a piston 24 and piston rod or rack 25, presently to be fully described.

The butter pocket or holder, 20, is open at the top end, and to said end is fixed a disk 26, which rotates upon the top end of the chamber 19 and has a downward projection 27 guiding within said top end.

Said disk 26 is provided with four ratchet notches 27*, adapted to be engaged by a spring catch 28, fixed at 29 to the tub 13 so as to prevent accidental rotation of the disk in either direction.

The piston rod 25 is slidably guided in a sleeve 30 journaled in the cover 14. Said sleeve is retained by a collar 31 having a set-screw 32 engaging the sleeve; the collar is a portion of a rocker arm 33 having a stud 34, upon which one apertured end of a rod 35 is retained by a resilient catch 36,

pivoted at 37, where it is normally slightly arched away from the arm 33, so that when straightened by the pivot head it is frictionally engaged by the arm and thus held in the position it is set. The other end of the rod 35 is apertured and placed on the pin 38 on which ismounted the operating handle 29 of a crank 40. Said crank is fixed on a vertical shaft 41 journaled in bearings 42 fixed on the tub, and at its lower end itcarries a radial arm, 43, the service of which will presently be described.

Fixed at the lower end of the sleeve 30 is a collar 44 having a radial arm 45, carrying a dog 46, pivoted at 47 and by a spring 48 caused to engage the notches 27 of the disk 26. Upon said disk is fixed a bracket 49 in which is fulcrumed at 50 a lever 51, whose short arm is normally held downward upon a lug 52 by a spring 53, and the longer arm is provided with a dog 54 having a spring with a lateral inclined finger 58, which when the arm 45 is swung as from left to right in Fig. 5 glides over the head of the screw 56 and presses it downward as from 56 to 56 in Fig. 5, which movement causes the dog 54 to move the piston downward about one-fourth of an inch, or more or less according as the screw 56 is regulated up and down in the-lever 51. V

, To feed the empty butter dishes 59 fast and regularly in under the dischargeopening 60 in the bottom of the tub, I pile a considerable number of them at a time into a vertical tube 61, which for purpose of such piling is providedwith a large vertical finger slot 62 (see Fig. 7). The tube or magazine 61 is mounted high enough from the base to allow the feeder arm 43 to swing through the space 63 and-move the hiagazine 2O. Said wire is removably secured by screws 68- so it may be removed for repalr or replacement by a new one; the

vertical portion 68 of said wire is placed centrally below the crossing of the wires In Fig. 8 as shown, the dish guide 64' is formed with ledges 64 to prevent the dishes from being pushed'on top of each other. And in Fig. 4 is shown that the 1 base may havera beveled portion 69 to allow the filled dishes to slide automatically down upon the'table (not shown) on which the machine is operated, or into a tray placed on such table. In Figs. 1 and 4, 9O designates a brace from the tub to the dish magazine to steady it.

In the operation of the device the concentric space between the tub 13 and the inner tub or inclosure 19 is filled with broken ice, to keep cold the space within the inclosure 19, and thereby the butter in the container 20. In a cheap machine the rocker arm 33 may be used as a handle and swung back and forth about ninety degrees, stopping against lugs 91-92 on the cover, and the dishes may befed by hand into position for receiving the butter. But in the more complete machine the connecting rod 35 and crank 40 are employed; and in it the'still further perfected machine the shaft. 41 and feeder arm 43 are also employed.

When the crank is employed, its stroke will regulate the exact movement of the arm or'lever 33. And when said arm'33 is operated, no matter what operates it, the arm 45 and dog 46 will rotate the butter magazine 20 one-fourth of a turn at a time, thus cutting four pieces of butter off against the wire 67; and as the arm 45 is swun backward to engage the 'dog 46 with the next notch 27 in the disk 26, the finger 58 acts on the top of screw 56 and depresses the lever 51, whereby the rack 25 and piston 24 .Wlll move the butter supply downward into position for the wire 67 to out four more pieces from the part of the butter divided bythe cross wires 2122 and projecting below the same. When the piston 24 reaches the wires 21-22 it. cannot be forced against them because the upper portion of the piston rod has no teeth for the dog 54 to engage. When the top of said rod gets flush with the top of the sleeve 30 the operator knows the butter magazine is empty, and he raises the cover 14 while placing another square lump of butter in the magazine. To such removal of the cover it is only necessary to swing the latch 36 one side, detach the rod 35 from stud 34 and unscrew the screw 17 sufliciently to enable the cover to be turned slightly and lifted off. A reverse operation will of course replace the cover.

In cleaning the machine the cover may be removed and the piston and butter magazine removed and separated.

What I claim is:

1. Ina device of the kind described, a base, a cylindrical inclosure mounted on the base and spaced above it, and having its bottom provided with an aperture mostly beyond the center of the inclosure, a centrally opendisk guided to rotate in horizontal plane upon the inclosure, an angular butter magazine suspended from said disk into the inclosure and being rotatable with the disk,

two crossing wires fixed in the lower end of the magazine, a radially disposed wire fixed across the aperture in the bottom of the inclosure intermediate said bottom and the crossed wires, a piston movable up and down in the magazine and having an upwardly. extending piston rod with ratchet teethat one side of it, a rocker arm and means operated by the rocker arm for rotating the disk one-fourth revolution at each forward stroke-'of'the arm, and means for feeding the piston rod downward a predetermined amount automatically at the end ofeach' full revolution of the disk and the magazlne. p

2. The structure specified in claim 1, and

means for limiting the stroke of the rocker arm to about ninety degrees.

3. The structure specified in claim 1, and

'a rotary hand crank and connecting rod from said crank to the rocker-arm.

4. The structure specified in claim 3, and a vertical magazine for the dishes to be filled, said magazine having its bottom end open and spaced high enough above the base to allow one dish at a time to escape horizontally from under it; said hand crank having g y a vertical shaft with a radial arm swinging through the space below the magazine at each revolution of the crank so as to move the lowest. dish from under the magazine and along the base toward the discharge opening of the butter magazine.

5. The structure specified in claim a, and lateral guiding means upon the base for guiding the moved dishes to and beyond the butter delivering opening of the butter magazine.

6. The structure specified in claim 1, and a larger cylindrical inclosure forming an ice container spaced about the first mentioned inclosure, said ice container having a detachable cover with a central aperture, a sleeve extending vertically through said aperture and forming a guide for the piston rod, said rocker arm being secured on the upper end of said sleeve, and the means rotating the disk comprising a radial arm fixed to the lower end of the sleeve and having a spring-pressed dog for engaging the disk to rotate it, and the disk having means for such engagement at four difierent points.

7. The structure specified in claim 1, said feeding meansfor the piston rod comprising a swinging lever having a dog engaging the piston rod, and said rod having teeth for the dog to engage only so far as there is butter for the piston to move.

8. The structure specified in claim 7, said swinging lever being mounted on the disk, and having a dog engaging the rack on the piston rod to feed it downward; said radial arm from the lower end of the sleeve having an inclined finger adapted to press downward on the rack-feeding lever.

9. The structure specified in claim 8, and means for varying the distance the said finger may depress said lever, and automatic means for returning the rack-feeding lever to normal position. I

10. The structure specified in claim 9, said inclined finger arranged to act on the lever while the dog that rotates the disk is moving backward tor a new hold of the disk.

11. The structure specified in claim 10, said rack-moving dog being arranged to act on the rack only once during each full rotation of the disk.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

THOMAS KASKOURAS. 

